PS 391.001: Film and Politics Theresa Schroeder and Richard Waterman Page 1 of 13

Political Science 391 Film and Politics Summer Semester 2012 Instructors: Theresa Schroeder and Richard W. Waterman Emails: theresamschroeder@gmail.com Richard.Waterman@uky.edu Telephone: 859-257-1118 Office Hours:

Generally the fastest way to contact us is through e-mail. If you have an immediate question contact Professor Schroeder. We check my e-mail regularly during the day (M-F). E-mails received before 5pm on a weekday will be responded to the same day or the next day. E-mails received after 5pm on Friday will be responded by the Monday of the following week. For face-to-face, telephone or webcam appointments: e-mail me to set up a meeting time.

The blog website http://tinyurl.com/rw-film-politics will be used for discussions about the

film with us & other students in the class. Class Time and Location:

ONLINE: go to: MyUK and log into Blackboard using your LINK BLUE username and password. Minimum Technology Requirements:

In order to participate in this course, you will need access to a computer with the minimum hardware, software and Internet configuration described at this site:

http://wiki.uky.edu/blackboard

Note: The use of Internet Explorer or Safari is NOT recommended for use with Blackboard.

Firefox is the recommended Internet browser for the course.

You will need to install a number of plug-ins on your computer. The links to the specific plug-ins required for this course can be found in MODULE 1 of the COURSE MATERIALS section of the course. If using a UK computer, these plug-ins already should be installed.

If you experience technical difficulties with accessing course materials, the Customer Service Center may be able to assist you. Their hours are 7am – 6pm Monday through Friday. You may reach them at 859-257-1300 or by e-mail at helpdesk@uky.edu. Please also inform the course instructor when you are having technical difficulties.

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Students WILL have to rent, download or buy the films for the class on their own. Students

can rent, download or buy films from Netflix, Amazon, Best Buy, Blockbuster or any such resources. Movies can be played on computer desktop or laptop equipped with DVD players, or Playstation, VCR, DVD or BluRay players. Download requires high-speed Internet connection.

You need to have a working, frequently accessed email address. You also need a webcam, built-in or external connected to your computer with microphone

& speakers, to use Google Chat (Windows PC), Gmail Chat (Any browser on Mac, or Windows) or iChat (Mac) for web conferencing with me on Richard.W.Waterman@gmail.com. The Teaching and Academic Support Center (TASC) website: http://www.uky.edu/TASC/

This website offers additional information and resources that can promote a successful distance learning experience. They may also be reached at 859-257-8272. The Purpose of the Class:

Film is entertainment. Well yes and no! Some films are certainly entertaining, while many others are not. But film

is more than simply an entertainment medium. It also is an art form, as well as a means of communicating and expressing ideas. In this class we will be interested in how film translates information about historical, sociological and political issues at different periods in time.

When you go to the Cineplex, rent a movie on DVD or Blu-Ray, or catch a film on Turner Classic Movies or one of the other cable channels, you are probably merely interested in seeing a good movie. Yet, to take a recent example, James Cameron’s Avatar can be viewed on several levels. It is an action thriller. It is a love story. It is a spectacular special effects movie. And if you saw it in 3D it is an amazing viewing experience. Yet beyond its entertainment value the film has other meanings. It can be interpreted as a defense of the rights and cultures of aboriginal peoples, as a defense of preserving existing ecosystems and the environment, even as a film that casts imperial powers and the military in a negative light. But like many movies, much of what you take away from this film depends on the perspective you bring to the viewing experience. If you are simply interested in special effects, the love story or the action sequences, you may not notice the message(s) that the film conveys. Likewise, different people may come away from the movie with different perception of that message.

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Film is a unique means of communicating political, social and historical ideas. Unlike most other art forms, film combines a variety of diverse techniques including visual images and editing, which can create an interesting juxtaposition of images, thus accentuating or altering their meaning for a particular effect. Film also includes the use of lighting, which can influence the mood of a picture; sound, which can provide stark emotional cues for an audience; settings, which can be mundane or surreal; and music, which can alter one’s perception of the material you are watching.

To demonstrate the importance of each of these characteristics, the individual visual images in a f ilm like Baraka are meant to tell a story, without the use of one spoken word. For example, the snow monkey that is seen warming itself in a hot spring at the beginning of the film is a metaphor for religious faith and serenity, the ideal picture of a man immersed in contentment and wisdom. The film also uses editing to juxtapose images of aboriginal societies living in harmony with their environment, with pictures of a mechanized modern society in which humans are reduced and juxtaposed with images of chickens being processed on a conveyor belt. Each image alone would have little meaning, but by combining them the filmmaker presents a powerful commentary on the life, values and faith in modern society.

Lighting is also of critical importance. How a director and cinematographer decide to light a

sequence can provide the audience with important clues about the mood of the film and the motives of the characters. In the genre of movies called film noire, which was particularly popular during the 1940s and early 1950s, shadows, fog, and smoke often convey an ambiance or mystery. Darkness is used as a metaphor for the shifting nature of morality. Shadows cast on faces tell us what a character is thinking or what their motives may be. A common technique is to have a character move in and out of the shadows as their character deals with a morally ambiguous subject. A face that is half in shadow and half lit also is used to suggest this sort of ambiguity of motive or morals. Shadows also can be used to reveal characters. One of the greatest of all uses of shadows in film history is in Carol Reed’s classic The Third Man. The villain of the film, played by Orson Welles, is literally introduced to the audience from the shadows, as a woman opens a window, thus casting light on Welles’ surreptitious character. The image says everything that the audience needs to know about Welles’ character without a single solitary word of spoken dialogue. We know that Welles’ character lives in the shadows and that his motives are therefore decidedly dark and suspect.

On the other hand, the use of bright light and color can also shape the mood of a movie. In the film Triumph of the Will, Director Leni Riefenstahl uses light emerging through the clouds to portray Hitler literally descending from the heavens. The images are meant to convey stature. The angles used to film Hitler also are meant to accentuate his image as a godlike figure. The work was expressly intended as propaganda, to sell an ideal image of the Fuehrer to the German people, who already were conditioned to the idea of the über-mensch. Despite its distasteful topic matter, the film represents a masterful use of film lighting, editing and technique for an expressly, if diabolical, political purpose.

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Like visual images, sound also is an important characteristic of film. The character of the child molester in Fritz Lang’s classic film M is often first introduced to the audience by the eerie sound of a song he whistles. The effect is chilling, a faceless menace emerging from the shadows to attack our most innocent of citizens: our children! To achieve a much different effect, the French master Jacques Tati often over emphasized certain mundane sounds on his sound track, thus bringing life to inanimate objects. The soundtrack of Play Time is particularly interesting, as every squeak and noise is exaggerated, thus leaving the audience with a sense of the sterile nature of modern architecture and its numbing effect on our society. In Mon Oncle, Tati uses sound to animate various objects in a modern home, providing them with a distinctive personality of their own. Sound can also be used to create transitions from one sequence to another. One of the most imaginative such uses occurs in David Lean’s Dr. Zhivago, when the sound of a blaring siren helps to shift us visually from one scene to another. The effect is both startling and disconcerting.

Mood, character and setting can all be established through the use of these techniques, as well as the director’s decision on where to place the camera. How a director chooses to frame a particular shot can have a significant impact on how an audience perceives a character. In Citizen Kane, Director Orson Welles dug holes in the floor and placed the camera below his actors. He then filmed his main character, Kane, from a low angle in a key scene, thus making his character seem ominously larger than life.

Likewise, in Lawrence of Arabia, David Lean uses a long continuous shot of an oncoming rider on horseback to demonstrate both the vastness of the desert and the inconsequential size of the humans who inhabit or invade that space. In this vein, Lawrence later insults the Arabs by referring to them as “a little people.” And in the context of the vast desert, even the great British Empire is subsumed. In fact, it is only by associating Lawrence with the desert that he takes on a larger than life persona. Without the desert he is nothing, a minor cog in a larger impersonal military machine. To demonstrate his greater stature in the desert, Lean photographs Lawrence from a low angle with Lawrence standing atop a railroad car, backlit brilliantly by pure, radiant sunlight. The image presented is both mystical and heroic. In contrast, when Lawrence later descends into runaway hubris and total madness, Lean photographs him in tight close ups that emphasize his growing insanity.

The camera also can be used to accentuate or to diminish a character. Buster Keaton’s utter stillness as a crowd moves buoyantly around him in the film The Saphead both draws the audiences’ attention to Keaton as well as telling us that his character literally is out of step with the rest of society. In Ang Lee’s The Incredible Hulk, the camera is placed at odd angles, mirroring the image of a comic book. Perhaps the greatest of all directors, John Ford, was well known for the artistic composition of his shots. Many other directors, such as Jean Renoir and John Huston (in his 1950s movie version of Moulin Rouge), recreate the works of the great masters in various important shots and sequences in their films. In a more realistic manner, Buster Keaton recreated many of Matthew Brady’s Civil War photographs for key shots in his marvelous film The General.

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Sets also can provide an important clue to the filmmaker’s intent. In the classic silent film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Director Robert Wiene masterfully demonstrates the imperfections of the human mind by moving his characters through a series of distorted and irregular looking sets. The image of people moving through oddly shaped doors and bizarre staircases, as well as the primal images on walls, perfectly translates the director’s vision of a warped and unsettled human mind. Through his set designs, then, Wiene actually allows the viewer to inhabit the same deconstructed space as the main character, giving us the same sense of disequilibrium and unease that the character experiences. Similar visual effects are used to show the warped nature of Larry Talbot’s mind after he is turned into The Wolf Man, in the 1941 movie classic.

In sum, when we watch a film we greatly benefit if we pay careful attention to the plot, the characters, their dialogue and their actions. But we also should pay attention to the director’s intentions by studying the use of lighting, editing, framing, sound, music, camera placement, set design, setting, and other movie making effects. These film techniques can be every bit as important, and at times even more important, than the dialogue the characters speak in conveying meaning to an audience, even if the audience is not consciously aware of these techniques.

In addition to film technique, another important aspect of movies is how they are used as metaphors. For example, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country appears to be nothing more than another exciting adventure of Captain Kirk and the intrepid crew of the starship Enterprise. But the movie also is a metaphor for the end of the Cold War, with copious references to the Cuban Missile Crisis, World War II, Chernobyl, glasnost, Mikhail Gorbachev, the end of history thesis, the Russian gulags and the McCarthy Red Scare. In fact, many westerns and science fiction films serve as perfect allegories for political themes. This was particularly the case in the 1950s when the paranoia surrounding the McCarthy anti-communist purges discouraged overt political filmmaking. Films such as High Noon and Invasion of the Body Snatchers could convey a deeper message to an attentive audience willing to think about the film’s content.

And even pure entertainment films can tell us a great deal about the time that they were

made. IWhat was it about the specific time when these films were made that invited an audience to revel in morally ambiguous characters, heroes with a dark past or a dangerous secret, and a series of voluptuous but dangerous femme fatales? Likewise, why did Americans of the 1930s revel in the films of Busby Berkeley and Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers during the very depths of the Great Depression and the New Deal, or rush to watch movies with violent criminals who bucked the system such as Little Caesar, Public Enemy, or Scarface? Why did audiences of the 1950s prefer the wacky romances of Rock Hudson and Doris Day, as well as a series of science fiction films featuring giants ants, spiders, blobs and other stranger than life villains. And why did audiences of the late 1960s and 1970s embrace a new counterculture in film? By examining the films of a particular time period we can learn much about the culture, morals, and social values of that society.

Though it can be a painful enterprise, we can study the films made by Hollywood and their powerful and highly deleterious portrayal of stereotypical images of African Americans, Latinos,

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Asians, Native Americans, Gays and Lesbians. Even the seemingly innocent cartoons once produced by Disney and Warner Brothers contained blatantly racist images. As a result, the rerelease of Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck cartoons on DVD often contain a warning (often presented by an avuncular Leonard Maltin) about the derogatory racial and ethnic images presented in these films.

On a more positive note, we can also examine the emergence of more affirmative portrayals of racial and ethnic minorities in films. Some of the most constructive images in the 1940s appeared in films made by individuals who were later accused of Communist leanings. Yet, while a number of early films included African American characters in larger and more consequential roles, film critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert were still critical of the underrepresentation of African American actors in Hollywood films as late as the 1980s. They note that in Steve McQueen’s last film, The Hunter, LeVar Burton’s character was originally scripted as a dog. Although there are a number of major African American stars today, and Latino and Asian actors (as well as openly gay actors) are also in demand, the under representation of racial, ethnic and other minorities remains a serious issue, with Hollywood often hiding behind the lame excuse that white audiences simply are not interested in watching films with a minority cast. We therefore also need to be attentive to casting decisions, particularly when white actors are cast in inappropriate ethnic roles. Why was an Asian not chosen to play Charlie Chan, for instance? Such casting decisions tell us much about the nature of the times in which films are made.

With the ascendance of action films, there also are fewer opportunities today for woman to appear in major films. Whereas there was a strong market for so-called woman’s pictures in the 1930s and 1940s, and stars such as Bette Davis, Katherine Hepburn, Joan Crawford, Barbara Stanwyck, Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Mae West, and Loretta Young commanded top billing, there are fewer major roles for women in films today, though the success of Titanic demonstrated that there is a large and vibrant female audience that can turn a picture into a megahit. Still, there is a highly disproportionate ratio between the number of woman and male stars. Furthermore, it is difficult for female actresses over 40 to find work, while Harrison Ford and other male actors in their 60s can still pass for action heroes in blockbuster movies such as the recent Indiana Jones epic.

The underrepresentation of racial/ethnic and sexual groups in film also is important, for actors do provide significant role models for our youth. Therefore, if there are few dominant women on the screen, if African Americans, Latinos, Asians, Native Americans, and Gays or Lesbians are relegated to supporting roles or mere comic relief, this sends a strong signal to Americans. It says something about who is acceptable in our society. Inclusion in movies is therefore an important political and social statement. The fact that more movies today provide positive portrayals of lesbian and gay characters, for instance, opens the door for greater levels of familiarity and tolerance toward gay people in our society. Likewise, placing Denzel Washington, Will Smith, Angelina Jolie, or Helena Bonham Carter in an action film, not so subtly suggests that we can all be heroes.

Film therefore provides myriad ways of thinking about history, sociology, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and other issues related to diversity and American politics and culture. In

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this class we will delve into a number of these themes. Our objective will not merely be to identify so-called political films, but also to show how films more generally can tell us a great deal about who we are as a society, what our values are, how tolerant we are, the issues that concern us, and our contemporary moral values. International Relations

The films we watch this semester will all be designed around the field of International Relations. International relations in the broadest sense, is the study of how actors interact within the international system. These actors include countries (referred to as states in International Relations) of course, but actors can also be Non-governmental Organization (NGOs), International Organizations (IOs), non-state actors (i.e. terrorist organizations), and even individuals. The international system is one of anarchy, meaning there is no overarching authority that maintains order. There is no policeman to call when there is a problem in the international system. For this reason scholars of International Relations study how interactions of the various actors can cause war, promote peace, encourage cooperation, enforce international law, and affect development, to name a few.

Theories have been created in order better understand and predict how these actors behave.

The primary theories are realism, liberalism, and social constructivism. The proponents of realism view the international system as hierarchical with states being the primary actor. States are self-interested, thus they take actions to try and move up in the international hierarchy through the acquisition of power relative to other states both militarily and economically. Because there is no overarching authority, states must engage in self-help strategies in order to maintain their security. In a realist's world, the international system is one of competition to rise in status, thus there is little cooperation. Sovereignty of the state is sacred and international law lacks authority within domestic politics of the state. In essence, under realism, it's a dog eat dog world.

Proponents of Liberalism (also commonly referred to as idealism or institutionalism) has a

much more rosy view of the world than the realists. While liberalists believe that state power matters, it can be constrained through rules and institutions, allowing for cooperation to occur. Liberalists believe the world lacks an overarching authority, but repeated interactions between states shapes their behavior. States are more likely to abide by international treaties and adhere to international law since they understand that their actions today will affect the willingness of other states to cooperate with them in future. IOs (such as the United Nations) play an important role in shaping international norms of behavior and providing a forum for repeated interactions between states. Thus, liberalists view IOs as important actors in the international system. To liberalists, IOs change the world from a dog eat dog world, to one where collective action is possible.

Realists and liberalists believe the international system is anarchical and this influences state

behavior. Social constructivists do not take the world anarchy as given. Instead they posit that state interactions with one another created an anarchical world. Social constructivists also do not assume

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that all states share the same primary interest----security, but state interests develop through interactions with the other states. IOs help shape international norms through socializing individual states on appropriate behavior. For social constructivists, what is acceptable state behavior is fluid and constantly changing, based on how states interact with one another. This means that what was acceptable in 1900 may not be acceptable today, and what is appropriate action today, may not be appropriate in the future.

International relations focuses on how states interact with one another, but domestic actors also play a role. NGOs can constrain or push for a state to intervene in a civil war in another state and public opinion can influence a state's leaders to abide by international treaties. Thus, even individuals can play a role in international relations. Therefore, the study of international relations is not only about states how states interact but the interactions of all actors within the international system.

Course Outcomes At the completion of this course, the student should be able to:

• As the previous description of film and its varied impacts suggests, students should be able to demonstrate an understanding of how film techniques portray (subtly and overtly) various aspects of human life.

• Apply the principles of international relations to the films we watch. • Recognize the various forms in which politics exists in a diverse set of films. • Demonstrate knowledge of the classification of film techniques used to inform,

manipulate and entertain an audience. • Demonstrate how films portray politics at different periods in American history. • Demonstrate an understanding of the basic components of filmmaking.

Detailed Chapter Learning Outcomes

A detailed listing of chapter learning outcomes can be found on the BlackBoard webpages. Disabilities/ Medical Conditions:

If you have a documented disability that requires academic accommodations, please contact me as soon as possible. In order to receive accommodations in this course, you must provide me with a Letter of Accommodation from the Disability Resource Center (Room 2, Alumni Gym, 859-257‐2754, email address jkarnes@email.uky.edu) for coordination of campus disability services available to students with disabilities. Course Requirements:

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Attendance: It is YOUR responsibility to access materials for the class in a timely manner.

To help keep you on track on Blackboard we provide a LECTURE SCHEDULE that you should follow. To repeat, the lecture schedule is posted on Blackboard in the COURSE INFORMATION section. You are expected to spend a MINIMUM of 4-6 hours per DAY on-line, watching movies, or reading assigned class materials.

We will watch a wide variety of different films from different periods in time over the course of this semester. The films we will watch and discuss are listed on this syllabus. Students will be asked to complete four written assignments. These assignments will be posted on Blackboard. They will provide the basis for the grade you will receive. Since the assignments will be related to the films you watch it is highly recommended that you participate in the synchronous classroom discussions. Films are available through Netflix, Blockbuster, Amazon or other online services, if you wish to purchase, rent or download them (used copies are often fairly inexpensive).

You are responsible for securing access and watching the films.

Grading:

There will be four written assignments worth a combined 100 points. Each assignment will be worth one quarter of your grade. There will be no extra credit assignments.

Although it should be an obvious point, plagiarism and cheating are not permitted. Students will receive an “E” for the class and are subject to broader university disciplinary policies. To understand what plagiarism is and what the University of Kentucky policies are on this matter go to:

http://www.engr.uky.edu/~dieter/plagiarism.html Where to Purchase Required & Recommended Books:

Books may be purchased from the following stores:

• Kennedy Bookstore, 405 S. Limestone, (859)-252-0331 or 1-800-592-8165 o Website: www.kennedys.com

• Wildcat Text Books, 563 S. Limestone, (859) 225-7771 o Website: www.wildcattext.com

• UK Bookstore 106 Student Center Annex, (859) 257-6304 o Website: http://www.bkstr.com/Home/10001-16403-1?demoKey=d

• Amazon: www.Amazon.com • Barnes & Noble: www.BarnesandNoble.com • Alibris: www.Alibris.com

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• Or other online sources that guarantee timely shipping (!). Required Books:

• International Relations on Film by Robert W. Gregg. ISBN: 1-55587-675-7

Recommended Books:

These books are not required for this class, but merely are recommended. These books are available new or used from online stores mentioned above. For those students who wish to learn more about the structure and form of film we recommend two books by the master Soviet Director Sergei Eisenstein.

• Eisenstein, Sergei. The Film Sense. Harcourt Brace. ISBN: 978-0-15-630935-6

• Eisenstein, Sergei. Film Form. Harcourt Brace.

ISBN: 978-0-15-630920-2

o If interested in film criticism, either as a career or hobby, we strongly recommend:

• Agee, James. Film Writing & Selected Journalism. 2005. Library of America. ISBN: 978-1-931082-82-2

• Lopate, Phillip (editor). American Movie Critics: An Anthology From the Silents Until

Now. 2006. Library of America. ISBN: 978-1-931082-92-1

• Polito, Robert (Editor). Farber on Film: The Complete Writings of Manny Farber. 2009.

Library of America. ISBN: 978-1-59853-050-6

Lopate’s book is an outstanding collection of film criticism. It is not a movie review book

like Leonard Maltin’s popular volume, which provides short reviews of thousands of movies. Rather, Lopate’s book provides a chronicle of some of the most significant film criticism by some of the best movie critics in American history. It also provides essays on movie themes that cover the entire scope of the history of American film. In addition to reviews of specific films, directors, and actors/actresses, many essays deal with the content and intentions of war films, the impact of African Americans in film, as well as women in film, and other relevant and interesting topics. Manny Farber and James Agee were among the first to create the art of film criticism.

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We also recommend the works of the French filmmaker and film critic François Truffaut

and other French film critics. Their work also was highly influential in establishing a serious school of film criticism.

Where to get Required Films:

Students WILL have to rent, download or buy the films for the class on their own. Students will be given a choice of movies to watch which can be obtained – rent, download or buy – from Netflix, Amazon, Best Buy, Blockbuster or any such resources.

Films can be played on computer desktop or laptop equipped with DVD or BluRay players,

or Playstation, VCR, DVD or BluRay players connected to a TV. Download requires High-Speed Internet Connection and sufficient Disk Space.

• Netflix: www.netflix.com for Rent or Download. • Blockbuster: www.blockbuster.com for Rent or Download. • Amazon: www.amazon.com for Download, or Buy • Best Buy: www.bestbuy.com for Download, or Buy. • Or students may buy/rent/download from other online sources.

Students are RESPONSIBLE for making sure they have the films available to watch. Plan

ahead for shipping and delivery time, as well as potential delays. Reading and Film Assignments:

Week # 1: The Dilemmas of Sovereignty: Gregg, Chapters 1, 2 and 3 Film to Watch: A Man for All Seasons Battleship Potemkin Week # 2: Intervention & Espionage and Subversion: Gregg, Chapters 4 and 5 Films to Watch: Salvador

The Good Shepard Week # 3: Decision Making and Crisis Management & The Tragedy of War: Gregg, Chapters 6 and 7 Films to Watch: Dr. Strangelove

Paths of Glory Lawrence of Arabia

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Week # 4: Economic Interdependence and Development & Ethics and International Law: Gregg, Chapters 8 and 9 Films to Watch:

Rising Sun Blood Diamonds

Week # 5: The Clash of Cultures & the Domestic Roots of International Relations: Gregg, Chapters 10, 11, and Epilogue Films to Watch:

The Gods Must Be Crazy Born on the Fourth of July

Week # 6: Summing Up Films to Watch:

Duck Soup The Mouse that Roared

Getting Started: Log into your Blackboard (Bb) account

1) Access the course syllabus: The course syllabus can be viewed at anytime by clicking on the red COURSE INFORMATION button and then clicking on SYLLABUS. I would recommend you print out a copy of the syllabus for future reference. Also, make a note of all deadlines.

2) You should check that the e-mail address listed for you is your current e-mail address (it does not have to be a UK address just the e-mail that you regularly use). If it is not your regular e-mail address, then change it to your current address (except for HOTMAIL accounts which sometimes aren’t compatible with Bb) and click submit. This is the address that I will use to communicate with you. (Go to TOOLS to change your e-mail address). A Gmail address would help with webcam discussion with the professor (me).

3) This is a 3 credit hour course taught exclusively through the web. All course materials are

on-line and it is YOUR responsibility to access material in a timely manner. To help keep you on track I have provided a LECTURE SCHEDULE that you should follow. The lecture schedule is posted in the COURSE INFORMATION section just below the syllabus. Again, I would recommend you print it out. This is a difficult course and it is imperative that you stay up-to-date with the lecture material. Do not procrastinate and leave material to the last minute. You are expected to spend a MINIMUM of 4 - 6 hours per DAY interacting with the course material. The course is divided into 10 modules (found by clicking on the red COURSE MATERIALS button). Each module consists of multiple files. These files are in a variety of forms: PowerPoint, word documents, web links, Authorware files, etc. As you work through the course materials you should take notes the same way you would for a "regular" lecture course.

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4) Please be aware that some files that you will be downloading are fairly large and may take a

while (several minutes) to download especially if you are accessing the course material using a modem or a slow broadband connection.

5) Given that all course material is delivered through the Internet, occasional problems may

arise with accessing course material. If you have problems accessing course material, or if web links appear to be not functioning, please contact me immediately and I will get the problem rectified as quickly as possible.

6) Recommended first actions:

1. Print out a copy of the syllabus and lecture schedule. 2. Begin work on the first week’s assignment by reading the appropriate chapters in

Gregg’s book. 3. Buy/Rent/Download the Required Films. 4. Read the material that we post on Blackboard related to each movie. 5. Take notes while watching the films. 6. Do Not fall behind in the class material! 7. Discuss the film at http://tinyurl.com/rw-film-politics. 8. And finally, enjoy some great movies!

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